With only 64 standard street versions built, the McLaren F1 is one of the rarest supercars->ke177 around. And since the company stopped building them about 16 years ago, those looking to add an F1 to their garage need to search for months, if not years, to find one for sale and spend millions of dollars to take it home.
One of these jewels changed owners for no less than $5.5 million a couple of years ago, a record for the astounding F1. However, a more recent sale saw one of these supercars fetch nearly double the amount, with a British F1 nut paying £6.2 million or $10.5 million at current exchange rates.
The amount is more than staggering, but there are a couple of reasons for why the anonymous Brit paid the price of nearly ten P1s to get a 20-year-old car. First of all, the model depicted in the photo above is one of the only two F1s finished in red. Secondly, this example, bearing chassis No. 28, was initially delivered to Michael Andretti, former IndyCar->ke1559 champion, owner of Andretti Autosport and son of renowned Formula One->ke190 and Le Mans->ke1591 ace Mario Andretti.
The former racing driver reportedly owned the F1 for about two years before selling it to a Japanese collector. The vehicle eventually returned to the U.S. and spent ten years in California prior to being sold to its new British owner. According to Western Morning News, the firm commissioned to find an F1 for the British enthusiast spent no less than six months trying to source one.
Click past the jump to read more about the McLaren F1.
Why It Matters
With less owners looking to sell their prized F1s, these BMW->ke178-powered supercars are gaining value at an incredible pace. At this rate, they will soon fetch as much as a classic Ferrari 250 GTO, which is quite a big deal for a modern vehicle.
Built between 1992 and 1998, the McLaren F1 was fitted with a 6.1-liter V-12 engine developed by BMW's M division. The mill generates 627 horsepower and enabled the supercar to hit 60 mph from a standing start in 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 240 mph. Again, that was in the mid-1990s!
The McLaren F1 remained the world's fastest production car for many years until the Bugatti Veyron 16.4->ke1112 claimed the title in 2005. However, the F1 is still the world's quickest vehicle powered by a naturally-aspirated engine.
Besides the regular F1, McLaren built seven LM and GT models, seven prototypes of the three and 28 race-spec F1 GTR versions.